Scottish Executive

Adult Literacy

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to tackle levels of illiteracy amongst young adults in South Lanarkshire.

Iain Gray: The South Lanarkshire Community Learning Strategy Partnership has been allocated £912,000 over three years to 2004 to help raise levels of adult literacy and numeracy. The partnership has submitted an action plan and subsequent mid-year report which estimates that almost 5,000 adults will be helped during this time.

  There is no specific target on young adults, although people with limited initial education, particularly young adults, are highlighted as one of seven priority groups.

Air Services

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-29308 by Lewis Macdonald on 30 September 2002, what steps it will now take and what representations it has made to Her Majesty’s Government on why it has not provided a response to the application for a public service obligation for the Inverness/Gatwick route.

Lewis Macdonald: The next step is a matter for the UK Government. The Executive has liased closely with the UK Government on what we believe is a substantial case for a public service obligation on the Inverness/Gatwick link.

Air Services

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish details of all communications, including e-mails, letters, telephone conversations and any other methods of communication, it has had with Her Majesty’s Government and any of its agencies or non-departmental public bodies in regard to flights to Inverness and the north of Scotland.

Lewis Macdonald: No. Disclosure of information which would harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion is exempted from the commitment to provide information under the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information .

Air Services

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish details of all communications, including e-mails, letters, telephone conversations and any other methods of communication, it has had with Her Majesty’s Government and any of its agencies or non-departmental public bodies in regard to Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd.

Lewis Macdonald: No. Disclosure of information which would harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion is exempted from the commitment to provide information under the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information .

Ambulance Service

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-29905 by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 October 2002, what facilities ambulances described as having thrombolytic capability are equipped with for assessing the need for, and delivering, thrombolytic treatment.

Malcolm Chisholm: Ambulances described as having thrombolytic capability are equipped with 12-lead Electro Cardiograph (ECG) machines with telemetry, and clot-busting drugs.

Ambulance Service

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to questions S1W-29905 and S1W-29906 by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 October 2002, what the difference is between the Cardiac Response Unit (CRU) and the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) and why the RRU is permanently on-call while the CRU only operates during peak times.

Malcolm Chisholm: The rapid response unit deployed to patients in Angus with chest pains will be either the Cardiac Response Unit (CRU) or an accident and emergency ambulance carrying the thrombolytic equipment, subject to availability and conditions as detailed in the answer given to question S1W-29905.

  Rapid Response Units (RRUs) are being introduced across Scotland as part of the service’s roll-out of priority-based dispatch. These units will be dispatched as a first response to Category A (life-threatening) calls where there is not available an accident and emergency ambulance capable of responding within eight minutes. Where the RRU is dispatched then it is backed up by the first available accident and emergency ambulance.

  Both the provision of thrombolytic services in Angus and the implementation of priority-based dispatch across Scotland are part of the Ambulance Service’s continuing commitment to provide the most appropriate and efficient response to its patients.

Ambulance Service

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average Scottish Ambulance Service response time is for calls that are (a) life-threatening, (b) serious but not immediately life-threatening and (c) neither serious nor life-threatening, broken down by NHS board area.

Malcolm Chisholm: These response times concern the performance of the emergency ambulance service following the introduction of priority-based dispatch. This system was introduced into the south east of Scotland from 1 August 2002 and is scheduled to be rolled out across Scotland by 2004. The information requested is not yet available. Officials in the Scottish Executive Health Department are currently in discussion with the Scottish Ambulance Service about the frequency to which performance information should be published. In the past, such information has been published once a year by the service in its annual report.

Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will postpone bringing forward any statutory instruments on the introduction of technical conservation measures for the scallop fishing industry until all issues in relation to amnesic shellfish poisoning are addressed and whether it will consult further with the industry prior to any such statutory instruments being laid before the Parliament.

Ross Finnie: No, amnesic shellfish poisoning is a matter of public health. Its existence increases the need for further conservation of scallop stocks, and I am persuaded following extensive consultation that technical conservation measures are the best way of achieving such conservation. However, I do intend to consider carefully the points made to and by the Rural Development Committee before finalising and laying the statutory instrument in question.

Careers Service

Shona Robison (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many young people entered work under the Beattie Inclusiveness Projects in year 1.

Iain Gray: Beattie Inclusiveness Projects started at varying times throughout year 1 and were managed at that time by individual Careers Services Companies. There is currently no separate figure for young people entering into work under the projects, but 1,038 young people engaged with the projects in the Scottish Enterprise area have been identified as entering employment and training. There is no figure available for the pan Highlands and Islands project.

Careers Service

Shona Robison (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much the Beattie Inclusiveness Projects cost in year 1.

Iain Gray: The budgeted cost for Beattie Inclusiveness Projects in year 1 (2001-02) was £3.5 million.

Careers Service

Shona Robison (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the differences are between the New Futures Fund and the Beattie Inclusiveness Projects.

Iain Gray: Beattie Inclusiveness projects are managed and delivered by Careers Scotland. Working in partnership with local agencies (statutory and voluntary), they aim to help young people (16 to 24 years) with additional support needs progress to education, training and employment. Inclusiveness projects are Scotland-wide (12 projects – Scottish Enterprise; one – pan Highlands and Islands Enterprise).

  New Futures Fund projects are managed by the Enterprise Networks and delivered through a range of agencies (statutory and voluntary) who specialise in working with specific client groups but who do not have an employability dimension. They target people (16 to 34 years) seriously disadvantaged in the labour market who are not job ready or not seeking work but who can move in that direction with the right support. New Futures Fund projects are Scotland-wide (72 projects – Scottish Enterprise; nine projects – pan Highlands and Islands Enterprise).

Children's Hearing

Shona Robison (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much new money will be made available to the children’s hearing system in each of the areas selected for the fast track pilot schemes for under-16s announced by the Minister for Education and Young People on 23 October 2002.

Cathy Jamieson: The fast track hearing pilots will be funded in full. Discussions are currently taking place to finalise details.

Concessionary Travel

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it took to consult older peoples’ groups prior to announcing the decision to introduce a single national minimum standard for free off-peak bus travel for pensioners.

Lewis Macdonald: Ministers announced the decision to introduce free local off-peak bus travel for elderly and disabled people in September 2000 following consideration of responses to the Executive’s consultation paper Integrated Transport for Scotland . This consultation exercise resulted in the passage of the Transport (Scotland) Bill 2001.

Crime

Brian Fitzpatrick (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to enable assets seized from criminals to be channelled into initiatives focusing on law enforcement and crime reduction, including anti-drugs strategies and community regeneration programmes.

Dr Richard Simpson: The Executive has been fully involved in the UK-wide Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and we are committed, along with the other UK administrations, to the Asset Recovery Strategy. The new legislation strengthens the powers of the courts to confiscate criminal assets, and it introduces new powers of civil recovery and taxation which will greatly assist efforts to recover cash and other assets gained through criminal activity. The cash seizures and money laundering elements of the act will be implemented in late December this year, and most of the remaining provisions will be implemented in February 2003.

  We are strengthening the Criminal Confiscation Unit in the Crown Office, and we are establishing a new Civil Recovery Unit, so that we can make full use of the powers available in the new legislation. A multi-agency money laundering unit has also been created within the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency to investigate and intercept suspicious financial transactions.

  The outcome of this skills and capacity building will be that we are able to seize increased amounts of criminal assets to redistribute them to good causes. We have already paid £250,000 from recovered assets to Greater Glasgow NHS Board to support the costs of additional addiction services for the Glasgow homeless. The First Minister has also announced a further award of £180,000 to assist family support groups across Scotland, which are helping the families of drug misusers. Future awards will depend on the amounts we collect from forfeitures and confiscations.

Crown Estates

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had in the last year with the Crown Estate on its taxation of small boat moorings in Scottish waters and the economic, social and environmental effects of this on coastal communities.

Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive has had no discussions with the Crown Estate about the level of seabed rentals for small boat moorings. Crown Estate policy is a reserved matter.

Employment

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many redundancies have been notified in Ayrshire since the launch of Partnership Action for Continuing Employment in March 2000, broken down by company, sector and earnings level.

Iain Gray: The information requested is not held centrally.

  Under the provisions contained in Part IV of the Trade Union and Labour Relation (Consolidation) Act 1992, employers must notify the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, in writing, if they intend to make 20 or more redundancies within a month. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) therefore hold information on those intended redundancies that fall within the scope of the act. However, individual companies cannot be identified as the information is potentially commercially sensitive and is treated in the strictest confidence by DTI. Nor is it known how many of the notified redundancies actually took place.

Employment

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people made redundant in Ayrshire since March 2000 have found alternative employment, broken down by sector and earnings level of new jobs.

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people made redundant in Ayrshire since March 2000 have found alternative employment (a) in Ayrshire, (b) elsewhere in Scotland and (c) outwith Scotland.

Iain Gray: The information requested is not held centrally.

  Following the report of the 2001 Review of PACE (Partnership Action for Continuing Employment), work is in hand to develop a monitoring and evaluation framework which identifies a range of performance measurement indicators, so that local PACE teams share and learn from each other and in doing so continue to improve PACE performance.

Employment

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to secure the jobs at Richard Roberts Knitwear in Ayrshire.

Iain Gray: Since Richard Roberts Knitwear entered its consultation period, officials at Scottish Development International and Scottish Enterprise Ayrshire have been in close, regular contact with senior management at the company. A number of options were discussed with the company, including the possibility of financial support to help keep the facility open.

  The company has, however, now taken the decision to close the factory. The majority of redundancies will take place on 17 December. In order to support the employees to find new jobs, support was offered to the company under the Executive’s PACE (Partnership Action for Continuing Employment) framework. The PACE services will be in place from 18 November and are likely to include sessions by JobcentrePlus, Careers Scotland and the Inland Revenue along with North Ayrshire Council Welfare rights and the Small Business Gateway.

Enterprise

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish Trade International website will be operational and what the reasons are for any delay in bringing it online.

Iain Gray: In October 2001 the Scottish Executive launched its Global Connections Strategy which led to the creation of Scottish Development International. Scottish Development International brings together the activities of the former Scottish Trade International and Locate in Scotland.

  The Scottish Development International website became operational in October 2001 to tie in with the launch of the Global Connections Strategy and the creation of Scottish Development International.

Food Standards Agency

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much the Food Standards Agency Scotland (FSAS) spent on the issue of amnesic shellfish poisoning, including research and the taking of samples, and whether it will show these figures against the overall budget of the FSAS in each year since the agency was established.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: FSAS have advised me that between the years 2000 and 2002 they have spent £238,000 on research into amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP). In the case of monitoring and the taking of samples, it is impossible to separate spend on ASP from other algal toxins. The following table details total FSAS spend on the shellfish algal toxin monitoring programme per year since the creation of the agency.

  Cost of Shellfish Algal Toxin Monitoring Programme Since Creation of FSAS

  


Financial Year 
  

Total Monitoring Costs
(£000) 
  

Total Sampling Cost
(£000) 
  

Total FSAS Budget
(£ million) 
  



2000-01 
  

207 
  

140 
  

5.1 
  



2001-02 
  

466 
  

307 
  

5.9 
  



2002-present 
  

292 
  

233 
  

5.5 
  



  In addition, £100,000 per annum is spent on monitoring phytoplankton in Scottish waters.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Brian Fitzpatrick (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30462 by Ross Finnie on 28 October 2002, how many of the 471 payments over £100,000 made to agricultural producers were in the bands (a) £100,001-£150,000, (b) £150,001-£200,000, (c) £200,001-£250,000, (d) £250,001-£300,000, (e) £300,001-£350,000, (f) £350,001-£400,000, (g) £400,001-£450,000, (h) £450,001-£500,000 and (i) over £500,000.

Ross Finnie: The information is detailed in the table:

  


Level Of Payment 
  

Total Number of Payments 
  



£100,001 to £150,000 
  

 133 
  



£150,001 to £200,000 
  

 85 
  



£200,001 to £250,000 
  

 49 
  



£250,001 to £300,000 
  

 50 
  



£300,001 to £350,000 
  

 37 
  



£350,001 to £400,000 
  

 30 
  



£400,001 to £450,000 
  

 12 
  



£450,001 to £500,000 
  

 9 
  



Over £500,000 
  

 66 
  



Total Claims 
  

 471

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will respond to the Lessons to be Learned Inquiry, the Royal Society Inquiry into Infectious Diseases in Livestock and the Royal Society of Edinburgh Inquiry into Foot-and-Mouth Disease in Scotland.

Ross Finnie: When I welcomed the publication of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Royal Society and Lessons to be Learned reports in July, I undertook to respond to their conclusions and recommendations by the end of the year and to make them available to Parliament. I am pleased that it has been possible to respond sooner than expected and I have today written to the Convenor of the Parliament's Rural Development Committee providing a copy of the Executive's response. The document has also been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 24750) and is available on the Scottish Executive website.

  The Executive has responded positively to the conclusions and many recommendations in these reports. The response marries up with steps the Executive has already taken to reduce the risk of future outbreaks and is very focussed around three main themes:

  keeping out infectious agents of exotic disease;

  reducing livestock vulnerability by reforming industry practice, and

  minimising the impact of any future outbreak.

  It is my intention to take the recommendations forward in partnership with stakeholders reflecting the way in which Scotland was able to eradicate foot-and-mouth disease within three months. These positive working relationships were highlighted in particular by the Lessons to be Learned report and it is important that these are built on for the future.

Health

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-29330 by Malcolm Chisholm on 27 September 2002, why the Information and Statistics Division of the Common Services Agency has no plans to compile key health indicators using the same criteria as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Malcolm Chisholm: The Information and Statistics Division (ISD) compiles and publishes a large number of key health indicators for Scotland and these are presented on ISD Online, SKIPPER and in the Performance Assessment Framework, for example. These publications have developed through time to meet the needs of key stakeholders for health information. Many of the OECD indicators are reflected in these outputs.

  The ISD contributes to the OECD compendium of statistics through the submission of data to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) for publication by the OECD as country level comparisons. The ISD also contributes to the regional breakdowns of health indicators which are published by the ONS in Regional Trends and periodically in UK Geographic Variations in Health.

  Requests to resource the development of major new statistical outputs for the home countries, such as a more extensive regional comparison similar to the OECD, can be made through the user/provider consultation process for national statistics.

Health

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many locum consultant doctors there currently are working in each NHS board area.

Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is given in the following table:

  Locum Consultants Directly Employed in NHSScotland at 30 September 2001 by Health Board

  


Health Board 
  

Headcount 
  

Whole Time Equivalent 
  



Total 
  

110 
  

85.3 
  



Ayrshire and Arran 
  

6 
  

2.3 
  



Argyll and Clyde 
  

9 
  

7.0 
  



Fife 
  

2 
  

2.0 
  



Greater Glasgow 
  

30 
  

24.6 
  



Highland 
  

3 
  

3.0 
  



Lanarkshire 
  

16 
  

14.2 
  



Grampian 
  

6 
  

4.8 
  



Orkney 
  

1 
  

1.0 
  



Lothian 
  

21 
  

15.3 
  



Tayside 
  

4 
  

1.8 
  



Forth Valley 
  

9 
  

5.5 
  



Western Isles 
  

1 
  

1.0 
  



Dumfries and Galloway 
  

3 
  

2.7

Health

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will receive the preliminary report on the Expert Group on Financial and Other Support.

Malcolm Chisholm: I discussed the preliminary report of the Expert Group on Financial and Other Support with the Health and Community Care Committee today. Copies of the preliminary report have been placed in Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 25060) today and it is also available on the Scottish Executive website.

Higher Education

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many students from (a) Scottish addresses and (b) in total have applied for entry to Scottish universities in each of the last three years.

Iain Gray: The available information for the last three years is given in the following table.

  Applicants to Scottish Higher Education Institutions via UCAS, 1999 to 2001

  

 

1999 
  

2000 
  

2001 
  



(a) Scottish-Domiciled Applicants 
  

28,180 
  

28,783 
  

30,196 
  



(b) All Applicants 
  

70,134 
  

68,837 
  

71,796 
  



  Source: UCAS.

  Final figures for applicants in 2002 will not be available until January 2003.

Higher Education

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there has been a recent reduction in the number of students taking science and engineering courses in Scottish universities.

Iain Gray: The most recent figures available from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) show the number of students accepted to take up full-time undergraduate courses in science and engineering has increased by over 4% from 8,937 in 2000 to 9,306 in 2001. Final figures for acceptances in 2002 will not be available until January 2003.

  Biological and physical sciences have seen an increase of over 3% from 3,511 in 2000 to 3,628 in 2001. In this same period, acceptances to engineering and technology are up 1% from 2,641 to 2,655 and mathematics and computing courses have seen a rise of over 8% from 2,785 to 3,023 in 2001.

Maternity Services

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are no facilities available in any hospital to allow a mother with post-natal depression to continue to care for her baby whilst undergoing treatment.

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons are for any lack of dedicated mother and baby services for women with post-natal depression.

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it intends to take to direct NHS boards to ensure that any lack of provision of dedicated mother and baby units for women with post-natal depression is addressed swiftly.

Malcolm Chisholm: Currently there are no dedicated units for mother and child admissions. However, at the discretion of clinicians and NHS trusts arrangements can be made locally in individual cases.

  Our guidance on post-natal depression services highlights the consideration that should be applied by service providers to the immediate, proven, benefits of joint admission arrangements for the mother and child and ultimately to the wider family. NHS boards and trusts are responsible for organising local or regional post-natal depression services against the published guidance.

  To inform further the assessments of need and best practice we have funded an audit over the next two years of primary and secondary care post-natal depression services in Scotland.

  The Scottish Executive guidance is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 24358).

Mental Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been unable to access acute psychiatric beds in each NHS board area in each of the last five years.

Malcolm Chisholm: This information requested is not held centrally.

Mental Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any discussions with Lothian Primary Care NHS Trust regarding the closure of 20 acute beds at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital and, if so, what was discussed and what the outcome was.

Malcolm Chisholm: This is an operational matter for NHS Lothian to address.

Mental Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any discussions with Argyll and Clyde NHS Board or any of the NHS trusts in its area regarding current issues with the mental health service in the Helensburgh, Dumbarton and Vale of Leven areas and, if so, what was discussed and what the outcome was.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Health Department has kept in regular contact with NHS Argyll and Clyde over the recent difficulties experienced with mental health staffing north of the Clyde.

  I am assured that NHS Argyll and Clyde is recruiting and taking the other action necessary to ensure that mental health services are available to meet health care needs in the area.

NHS Expenditure

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) final outturn expenditure for 2000-01, (b) planned outturn expenditure for 2001-02 and (c) actual final outturn expenditure for 2001-02 were, broken down by NHS board area.

Malcolm Chisholm: The gross revenue expenditure figures for 2000-01 and 2001-02, together with the planned expenditure for 2001-02 is given in the following table:

  


Health Board 
  

Gross Expenditure 2000-01
(£000) 
  

Planned Expenditure
2001-02
(£000) 
  

Gross Expenditure 2001-02
(£000) 
  



Argyll and Clyde 
  

438,561 
  

 468,244 
  

 468,318 
  



Ayrshire and Arran 
  

 370,589 
  

 400,163 
  

 395,127 
  



Borders 
  

 113,119 
  

 115,825 
  

 115,622 
  



Dumfries and Galloway 
  

 156,728 
  

 169,189 
  

 167,607 
  



Fife 
  

 323,611 
  

 346,575 
  

 344,385 
  



Forth Valley 
  

 266,322 
  

 286,097 
  

 284,918 
  



Grampian 
  

 487,347 
  

 521,630 
  

 519,793 
  



Greater Glasgow 
  

 985,787 
  

 1,075,526 
  

 1,067,854 
  



Highland 
  

 214,108 
  

 237,387 
  

 236,531 
  



Lanarkshire 
  

 510,611 
  

 579,903 
  

 577,236 
  



Lothian 
  

 732,214 
  

 814,168 
  

 803,875 
  



Orkney 
  

 24,403 
  

 26,706 
  

 26,378 
  



Shetland 
  

 28,807 
  

 30,798 
  

 30,505 
  



Tayside 
  

 428,342 
  

 476,511 
  

 472,360 
  



Western Isles 
  

 43,101 
  

 45,649 
  

 45,082 
  



Scottish Totals 
  

 5,123,650 
  

 5,594,370 
  

 5,555,591

NHS Funding

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-28610 by Malcolm Chisholm on 17 September 2002, how much money it actually made available to the National Review of Resource Allocation for the NHS in Scotland.

Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is currently being collated. Once complete, I will write to the member with a full response and place a copy in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

NHS Staff

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average number of days lost due to ill health was in each of the last five years for NHS (a) medical and (b) nursing staff.

Malcolm Chisholm: Occupational Health and Safety Minimum Dataset information was collected nationally for the first time during September to December 2001 and covers the period 2000-01. Sickness absence levels form part of the data. Collection of the 2001-02 data is currently on-going. Quality assurance of the 2000-01 data has started and once completed will be made available through the Information and Statistics Division of the Common Services Agency.

People with Disabilities

Shona Robison (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have secured open employment through the New Deal for Disabled People.

Iain Gray: Employment policy is reserved to the UK Government which takes the lead on funding and delivery of the New Deal. In Scotland it does this in partnership with the Scottish Executive and contributing Scottish organisations.

  Since New Deal for Disabled People started in Scotland in July 2001 it has secured open employment for 379 people up until September 2002.

People with Disabilities

Shona Robison (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the mechanisms are for competitive tendering when selecting employment programmes for disabled people.

Iain Gray: Employment policy is reserved to the UK Government which takes the lead on funding and delivery of the New Deal. In Scotland it does this in partnership with the Scottish Executive and contributing Scottish organisations.

  Competitive tendering arrangements in relation to employment programmes are principally an operational matter for Jobcentre Plus.

Post Office

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the £3.5 million allocated to it by Her Majesty's Government for the support of pilots of Government General Practitioners and Internet Learning and Access Points in post offices has been spent on and whether all of this allocation will be spent on post offices or sub-post offices.

Allan Wilson: All funding consequentials contribute to a block allocation to the Scottish Executive. The flexibility this gives ministers is considered a key element of the devolution arrangements. There was not a sufficient case for running a separate Scottish pilot on the project now known as Your Guide. DTI recently announced that the project would not receive further funding. The Scottish Executive remains in close contact with both DTI and Consignia regarding possible alternative projects.

Post Office

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for a scheme to assist rural sub-post offices along the lines of the funding made available to support sub-post offices in urban areas.

Allan Wilson: Post offices and postal services are reserved to the UK Government. I understand that details of financial support for rural post offices will be announced shortly by the Department of Trade and Industry.

Post Office

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the economic impact over the next five years on sub-post offices of the removal of benefit and allowance payments; if it has made no such assessment, what plans it has to commission one; what information it holds on what the estimated number of sub-post offices over this period will be, and how many there were in each of the last five years.

Allan Wilson: Consignia, post offices and postal services are reserved to the UK Government. The Performance and Innovation Unit’s report Counter Revolution: Modernising the Post Office Network  (June 2000) showed that the future viability of the network was challenged by the introduction of automated credit transfer. The Department of Trade and Industry are concentrating on supporting the Post Office’s efforts to build up new business opportunities, including universal banking services, in order to mitigate the effects of the move to automated credit transfer.

Public Appointments

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what checks are in place to ensure that all appointments to non-departmental public bodies that fall outwith the Commissioner for Public Appointment’s remit are made in accordance with the commissioner’s code of practice and guidance.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it reviews all appointments made to non-departmental public bodies that do not fall within the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments in order to ascertain whether the commissioner’s code of practice and guidance is adhered to.

Mr Andy Kerr: Appointments to all non-departmental public bodies for which Scottish ministers have responsibility fall within the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments and thus appointments to all of these bodies are made in accordance with her code of practice.

Public Transport

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it monitors the number of subsidised bus services provided in each local authority area, and what the reasons are for the position on this matter.

Lewis Macdonald: No. Local transport authorities have powers to subsidise socially necessary services based on local needs and circumstances. The use of these powers is a matter for individual local authorities.

Roads

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will support the creation of a bypass on the A96 at Nairn and, if so, what steps it will take to achieve this.

Lewis Macdonald: The case for a bypass for Nairn has not been identified as a priority when considering potential projects for the motorway and trunk roads programme and there are no plans at present to take forward such a scheme. I have not received representations on this matter from either Highland or the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (HITRANS).

Roads

Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to upgrade the A82 and when any upgrading will be completed.

Lewis Macdonald: The current maintenance programme for the A82 includes over £1.6 million in maintenance works and improvement measures over the course of the year. This includes provision of new lay-bys at Abriachan and Temple Pier, a new footway between Invermoriston and Dalcataig junction and reconstruction of the northbound dual carriageway between Gavinburn and Dunglass. In addition resurfacing of three sections between Tarbet and Inverarnan is planned.

Roads

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will hold a public inquiry into plans for infrastructure work at the Auchenkilns roundabout, Cumbernauld.

Lewis Macdonald: I will have a report on responses and objections to the published draft proposals for replacing the A80 Auchenkilns Roundabout this month. I will then decide if it is necessary to hold a public local inquiry.

Roads

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will rule out applying road tolls or other charges for the use of any planned new motorway along the A80/M80 route and for what period any such restriction would apply.

Lewis Macdonald: The consultant’s plan to 2010 for the A80, as part of the Central Scotland Transport Corridor Studies, does not contain any recommendations for road tolls or other charges on an upgraded A80. In any event, there is no legislation in place that would permit such charges to be introduced on the existing trunk road network.

Scottish Enterprise

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what mechanism is in place to make public whether Scottish Enterprise Glasgow has been successful in achieving its performance targets.

Iain Gray: Scottish Enterprise sets out intended outputs, as agreed with the Executive, in its operating plan and reports publicly on performance in their annual report. The publication of information on individual Local Enterprise Companies is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise.

Scottish Executive Websites

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it cost to establish its National Debate on Education website and what the annual operating costs are of the site.

Cathy Jamieson: The National Debate on Education website was launched on 20 March 2002. The cost to establish the website was £24,000. The total operating cost from March to September 2002 was £3,500.

Scottish Executive Websites

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it cost to establish its Funding for Learners website and what the annual operating costs are of the site.

Iain Gray: It cost £11,844 to establish the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department’s Funding For Learners website, with an annual operating cost of £2,644.

Scottish Executive Websites

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it cost to establish its Domestic Abuse website and what the annual operating costs are of the site.

Ms Margaret Curran: The Domestic Abuse website cost £20,000 (excluding VAT) to establish. Annual operating costs are £2,250 (excluding VAT).

Social Work

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many community social work places on average have been unfilled in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02 and (d) 2002-03 to date, broken down by local authority.

Cathy Jamieson: These figures are not held centrally.

  The following question was given a holding answer:

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